40 years ago today, the Rolling Stones sparked a frenzy in N.J. See the amazing photos

Forty years ago today, the marquee outside the old Capitol Theatre simply read “closed for repairs.”

Yet on June 14, 1978, thousands of people were crowded around the historic venue in Passaic — media, music industry elite, vendors and hordes of fans offering exorbitant sums of money to scalpers, or anyone with an extra ticket.

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Star-Ledger file photo

A ticket for what, exactly? Well, The Rolling Stones — the most famous rock band on Earth at the time — were in town and scheduled to play a “surprise show” at the 3,300-seat hall. The band was on its 1978 U.S. Tour, supporting its “Some Girls” album.

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Star-Ledger file photo

It was the hottest show the theater had ever hosted — as well as the Stones’ first New Jersey performance in 12 years (Convention Hall, Asbury Park, 1966) — and tickets were reportedly scarce. Many were offered to record company workers, radio folks and friends of the venue’s famed promoter John Scher, who had helped build the then-50-year-old building into a regular stop on most popular rock bands’ nationwide tours. Journey, Elvis Costello, Frank Zappa and Bruce Springsteen all played the Capitol in 1978.

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Star-Ledger file photo

While tickets to this Rolling Stones performance cost just $10.50 retail, the sale was reportedly never announced to the public — by the time most people had heard the show was happening, it was already sold out, according to old clips from The Star-Ledger. Some tickets were reportedly distributed to local record stores to be sold, but the sentiment seemed to be this: You weren’t finding your way into this show unless you knew someone or happened to be the luckiest Stones fan in the Garden State.

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Star-Ledger file photo

Scher claimed at the time that of the 3,300 tickets for the show, 2,800 were sold to “plain old people,” though that estimate was inaccurate, according to a report from Star-Ledger writer Mike Townsend.

Nevertheless, droves of Stones fans showed up outside the Passaic theater — formerly at Monroe Street and Central Avenue but torn down in 1991 — hoping to somehow gain entry, at any cost.